A co-op is a group of people that get together to do something. That something can be anything from homeschooling to vegetable gardening to running a small business. Not everyone knows how to do everything it takes to run a small business, but like the idea of working from home. This is where a team co-op benefits each member. Responsibilities of some of the team members can include advertisement, marketing, finances, ideas or execution of the ideas. Work with people who have similar interests to make the best use of your team co-op by pooling your resources.
Step 1
Discuss with several friends the idea of starting a co-op. The best bet is to find friends that have similar interests, such as cooking, gardening, sewing, quilting or any other number of ideas that you can use for your home based business. Write out what you want your co-op to accomplish and make this your mission statement.
Step 2
Write out a list of ideas for the co-op. You want to have similar ideas, but not the same ideas. For example, if you all like crafting, one person can quilt, one can make toss pillows, another can offer holiday items, while another makes clothing for children. These all fall into the idea of crafts, but you can all bring something different to the co-op.
Step 3
Write a contract or bylaws. Identify the positions of different members of the co-op and then write a job description for each position. When starting a co-op of any kind among friends, it's important to have everything in writing.
Step 4
Establish an amount for dues or discuss who wants to invest what money into the team co-op. Because it is a home business, set up the dues to cover expenses that benefit everyone, while each member invests in his own portion of the business.
Step 5
Brainstorm and appoint, or vote, to have different members take different positions. You need to have one person as the head who can make final decisions in case of disagreements. If you have a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, these positions can change, just make sure it is clearly delineated in the contract or bylaws.
Step 6
Decide if your co-op wants to invite other members to join along the way or if you want to set the co-op at a certain number of members. If one member leaves, then another member can join. Remember, the more people you have, the more work you can do and the more money you can make.
Tips
- Have regular meetings to see how everyone is doing. If there is no communication, the co-op will not work.
- Discuss suggestions from each team member. Do not shoot down someone's idea without first discussing it as a team.
References (2)
About the Author
Ruth O'Neil has been a freelance writer for almost 20 years. She has published hundreds of articles and stories in dozens of publications including "Parentlife," "CBA Retailers and Resources," "Lookout" and "Standard." She has also worked with a publishing company editing and preparing manuscripts for publication.
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